BAGUIO CITY – The city legislative body requested concerned offices of the city government to craft the appropriate revenue-generating proposals for the priorities of the present administration and ensure the same passed the required completed staff work to ensure their immediate passage once subjected to the legislative process enshrined under existing laws, rules and regulations.
Vice Mayor Faustino A. Olowan said concerned offices of the city government tasked by the city chief executive to prepare the necessary legislations supporting the passage of their revenue-generating proposals must ensure the same passed through extensive studies and research with sufficient legal basis to support their passage.
He assured the support of the city legislative body to the programs, projects and activities of the present administration aside from ensuring the passage of the needed legislations supporting the implementation of the agreed 15-point collective agenda but it is also important for the concerned offices to supply the city legislators with concrete basis for the passage of the desired legislations.
Among the proposals of the executive branch is for the city legislative body to pass ordinances governing the collection of environmental fees, environmental user’s fee and sewerage fees to help support the growth of the city’s tourism industry, apart from contributing in efforts to raise the required P300 million additional income of the city from its revenue-generating efforts.
According to him, the concerned offices must also provide the city legislative body with the appropriate technical staff to guide them during the deliberations of the revenue-generating proposals and provide inputs for the crafting of the final version of the needed legislation that will suit the requirements of the executive branch.
The city government is currently studying the imposition of congestion fee but the results of the ongoing study has yet to be released to support the enactment of an ordinance for the collection of such fee from tourists and travelers.
Olowan claimed the proposed revenue measures of the present administration will have to pass through the regular processes prescribed in the passage of tax ordinances so that the sentiments of the public will be considered to prevent the filing of unnecessary court cases that will again derail the implementation of the desired revenue measures.
He disclosed there are several revenue generating measures pending with the concerned committees of the city legislative body to be subjected to the required public consultations in the coming months and the same will be included in the priority revenue measures being proposed by the executive branch to improve the city’s fiscal standing.
The vice mayor explained that taxes are the lifeblood of the government but the imposition of the same must not be excessive and exorbitant which will can lead to complaints that could derail the implementation of the measures, thus, the need for the city legislative body to take the appropriate steps in passing such proposals.
By Dexter A. See
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis
